Digging Out Your Stopped-Up Wells
Tony Cooke

In Genesis 26, we read about how God greatly prospered Isaac. But the blessings he experienced were not received without challenges. Genesis 26:15 says that, “…the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth.

Isn’t that just like the enemy? He desires to clog up the resources and stop the flow of what we need in our life. He wants us to forsake and quit drawing from the outstanding truths that will enable us to walk in our full potential. The Word admonishes us that “…we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away” (Hebrews 2:1).

I believe we’re a very privileged and blessed people. The servants of our Heavenly Father have dug up wells, and we’ve enjoyed the flow that’s come from them. Ministers in various eras of church history have emphasized great truths of the written Word, but the enemy always wants to stop up those wells.

What did Isaac do? He didn’t quit and say, “I thought God was going to bless me, but it looks like things have all dried up.” Verse 18 tells that, “Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.”

As a believer, don’t be content with a trickle or a stream. And don’t be content with one well. Isaac reclaimed all the wells that had been stopped up by the Philistines. He wanted access to all his inheritance.

Isaiah 12:3 tells us, “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Notice again, it is not a well—it is wells. Salvation isn’t a singular commodity, such as forgiveness. It is forgiveness and so much more. Salvation is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. His redemption applies to every dimension of our being.

It’s been popular in our circles to sing, “I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me…” I’m not trying to be nit-picky, but if we examine what Jesus said, we might revise those words just a bit. Jesus said in John 7:37-38, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” He didn’t say a river, He said rivers.

Psalm 103:1-5 give us great insight into how multi-dimensional God’s blessings are toward us:

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Notice that it’s not a benefit God provides, but it’s benefits. If forgiveness was all God provided for us, we could praise Him forever. But He’s done more than that! He has more available to us than we’ve realized, and He wants us to partake of them all.

Paul said that as you are strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner man, and as you are rooted and grounded in love, then “ …you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19 The Message).

Have an attitude of going after all that the Holy Spirit has for you. Grow in all the fruit of the Spirit. Covet the best gifts of the Spirit. Lay hold of all His benefits. Unclog the stopped-up wells and let all the rivers flow!